Energy transmission control mount

ABSTRACT

An energy transmission control mount comprises a carrier having a first major surface, an opposite second major surface and an aperture provided therein. Channels are provided adjacent opposite ends of the first surface. Vibration dampening material is provided on the carrier. The vibration dampening material substantially lines the channels and the aperture and extends over at least a portion of the second surface.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to energy transmission controland in particular, to an energy transmission control mount designed toreduce transmission of energy such as vibration and sound betweencomponents such as for example, building structures.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Insulating building structures to inhibit the transmission of vibrationand sound from one region to another is common in many environments. Forexample, vibration dampening pads for use on floors to inhibit vibrationfrom traveling through floor surfaces are well known. Until recently,very little was done however to attempt to inhibit vibration and soundfrom travelling through walls.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,267,347 to Ryan et al. discloses an acoustic mount forisolating wall structures. The acoustic mount comprises a mounting clip,a sound absorbing inset and a bush. The mounting clip has an orificedefining a single start thread for engaging the thread on the outersurface of a stub on the sound absorbing insert. The sound absorbinginsert has an insert for receiving the bush. The sounding absorbinginsert is formed of soft rubber and has dimples thereon. The bush whenreceived by the sound absorbing insert is isolated from the mountingclip.

In use, the mounting clip is placed either directly or indirectly incontact with a thin wall or plaster board, while the bush is placedindirectly in contact with a block wall. The sound absorbing insert,which isolates the bush from the mounting clip, dampens the transmissionof low frequency noise between the block wall and the thin wall orplaster board.

Another mount to isolate walls and ceilings is manufactured by KineticsNoise Control Inc. of Dublin, Ohio and is sold under the name IsoMax.The IsoMax mount is in the form of a resilient sound isolation clipdesigned to attach to ceiling joists, wall studs or masonry. Layers ofgypsum or plaster board are hung onto furring channels defined by theisolation clip.

Although the above mounts help to inhibit the transmission of vibrationand sound between structures, they are costly to manufacture, complexand expensive to consumers. It is therefore an object of the presentinvention to provide a novel energy transmission control mount.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, in one aspect there is provided an energy transmissioncontrol mount comprising:

-   -   a carrier having a first major surface, an opposite second major        surface and an aperture provided therein;    -   channels adjacent opposite ends of said first surface; and    -   vibration dampening material on said carrier, said vibration        dampening material substantially lining said channels and said        aperture and extending over at least a portion of said second        surface.

In one embodiment, the vibration dampening material substantially liningthe channels is isolated from the vibration dampening materialsubstantially lining the aperture and extending over at least a portionof the second surface. The vibration dampening material substantiallylining the aperture and extending over at least a portion of the secondsurface also extends over a portion of the first surface.

On the second surface, the vibration dampening material is configured todefine a series of spaced ribs. The ribs are parallel and are generallyequally spaced. On the first surface, the vibration dampening materialis configured to define a disc. A washer is disposed on the disc. Thevibration dampening material substantially lines the aperture of thewasher and terminates at a flange overlying a portion of the washer toretain the washer to the disc.

In one embodiment, the ends of the carrier are folded back over thefirst surface of the carrier to define the channels and are sized toreceive flanges of a furring channel.

According to another aspect there is provided an energy transmissioncontrol mount assembly to reduce transmission of energy between a firstbuilding structure and a second building structure, comprising:

-   -   a channel-like member adapted to be secured to the first        building structure;    -   a carrier receiving and retaining said channel-like member, said        carrier being adapted to be structurally secured to said second        building structure; and    -   vibration dampening material acting between at least one of said        channel-like member and carrier, and said carrier and second        building structure.

In one embodiment, the vibration dampening material acts between boththe channel and carrier and the carrier and second building structure.The vibration dampening material is permanently bonded to the carrier.An aperture is provided in the carrier through which a fastener passesto secure the carrier to the second building structure. Vibrationdampening material substantially lines the aperture to isolate thefastener and the carrier.

According to yet another aspect there is provided an energy transmissioncontrol mount to act between a pair of components comprising:

-   -   a carrier having a first major surface and an opposite second        major surface and an aperture provided therein;    -   vibration dampening material on said carrier, said vibration        dampening material substantially lining said aperture and        extending over at least a portion of said second surface, the        vibration dampening material extending over said second surface        being configured to bear against one of said components; and    -   retaining structure on the first surface of said carrier adapted        to retain a second of said components.

The energy transmission control mount is effective, easy to install andinexpensive to manufacture. Its one-piece construction makes the energytransmission control mount simple to use.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments will now be described more fully with reference to theaccompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an energy transmission control mount;

FIG. 2 is a rear elevational view of the energy transmission controlmount of FIG. 1 ; and

FIG. 3 is a side cross-sectional view of the energy transmission controlmount interposed between a wall stud and drywall and secured to the wallstud via a fastener.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

Turning now to FIGS. 1 and 2 , an energy transmission control mount forisolating components such as for example, building structures is shownand is generally identified by reference numeral 10. In this particularexample, energy transmission control mount 10 acts between a wall studand a wall structure such as for example drywall, plaster board, gypsumor the like to reduce the transmission of energy between the wall studand the wall structure. As can be seen, the energy transmission controlmount 10 comprises a generally rectangular carrier 12 formed of metalsuch as for example steel. The top and bottom ends 14 and 16 of thecarrier 12 are folded back over the front surface 18 of the carrier 12to define channels 20. Vibration dampening material 22 substantiallylines each of the channels 20. A central aperture 26 is also providedthrough the carrier 12. Vibration dampening material 30 substantiallylines the aperture 26 and extends over a portion of both the frontsurface 18 and the back surface 32 of the carrier 12. The vibrationdampening material 22 and 30 may be for example polyurethane bondedrecycled rubber, polyether urethane foam or other suitable energyabsorbing material.

On the back surface 32, the vibration dampening material 30 isconfigured to define a plurality of vertically and generally equallyspaced, horizontal ribs 34. On the front surface 18, the vibrationdampening material 30 is configured to define a disc 36 on which awasher 38 is disposed. The vibration dampening material substantiallylines the aperture of the washer 38 and forms an annular flange 40 overthe washer 38 to retain the washer on the disc 36. The vibrationdampening material 22 substantially lining the channels 20 is isolatedfrom the vibration dampening material 30 substantially lining theaperture 26 and extending over the front surface 18 of the carrier 12.The vibration dampening material 22 and 30 is permanently bonded to thecarrier 12

Turning now to FIG. 3 , the energy transmission control mount 10 isshown in use interposed between a wall stud 50 and drywall 52. Energytransmission control mount 10 is designed to increase the soundtransmission loss characteristics of the wall stud and drywall assembly.During installation of the energy transmission control mount 10, afastener 54 is passed through the aligned apertures of the washer 38 andcarrier 12 and engages the wall stud 50 to secure the energytransmission control mount 10 to the wall stud 50. The head of thefastener 54 rests on the flange to isolate the head of the fastener 54from the washer 38. In this position, the ribs 34 bear directly againstthe wall stud 50. A standard furring channel 56, typically formed ofsteel, is snapped into the front of the carrier 12 by inserting itsupper and lower flanges 58 and 60, respectively, into the lined channels20 thereby to retain the furring channel. Drywall fasteners (not shown)pass through the drywall 52 and engage the furring channel 56 to securethe drywall 52 to the furring channel 56. In this manner, the energytransmission control mount 10 acts between the drywall 52 and the wallstud 52 to reduce energy from being transmitted therebetween.

If energy such as vibration or sound is transmitted to the wall stud 50,the ribs 34 resist transmission of that energy to the carrier 12. Thevibration dampening material 30 substantially lining the apertures ofthe carrier 12 and the washer 38 resists transmission of energy to thefastener 54. Energy that is transmitted to the carrier 12 moves to theextremities of the carrier. The vibration dampening material 22 liningthe channels 20 resists transmission of this energy to the furringchannel 56. In this manner, the energy transmission control mount 10reduces the transfer of energy between the wall stud 50 and the furringchannel 56 and hence the drywall 52.

In the example described above, the energy transmission control mount isshown interposed between a wall stud 50 and drywall 52. Those of skillin the art will however appreciate that the energy transmission controlmount may be used to isolate other building structures such as forexample floors and joists, masonry and wall studs, exterior walls andwall studs etc.

Although the energy transmission control mount is particularly suited toisolate building structures, the energy transmission control mount maybe used in other environments to isolate components to inhibitvibration/sound from propagating between components. For example, theenergy transmission control mount may be used in automobiles as anengine mount, or as a mount for vehicle body parts.

Although embodiments have been described, those of skill in the art willappreciate that variations and modifications may be made withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope thereof as defined by the appendedclaims.

What is claimed is:
 1. An energy transmission control mount comprising:a carrier having an aperture provided therein to accommodate passage ofa fastener therethrough, opposite ends of said carrier being configuredto receive and retain flanges of a furring channel; and vibrationdampening material on the carrier, the vibration dampening materialextending over at least a portion of one major surface of the carrierand over at least a portion of an opposite major surface of the carrier,the vibration dampening material extending over the opposite majorsurface of the carrier being configured to retain a washer in alignmentwith said aperture and through which the fastener passes.
 2. The energytransmission control mount according to claim 1 wherein the vibrationdampening material extending over the one major surface of the carrieris configured to define a series of spaced ribs.
 3. The energytransmission control mount according to claim 2 wherein the ribs areparallel and are generally equally spaced.
 4. The energy transmissioncontrol mount according to claim 1 wherein the vibration dampeningmaterial is permanently bonded to the carrier.
 5. The energytransmission control mount according to claim 1 wherein the oppositeends of the carrier are configured to define channels to receive andretain the flanges of the furring channel.
 6. The energy transmissioncontrol mount according to claim 5 wherein the channels are lined withvibration dampening material.
 7. The energy transmission control mountaccording to claim 1 wherein said carrier is formed of metal.
 8. Theenergy transmission control mount according to claim 1 wherein saidvibration dampening material is formed of recycled rubber.
 9. The energytransmission control mount according to claim 1 further comprising thefastener.
 10. The energy transmission control mount according to claim 1wherein the vibration dampening material on at least the portions of theone and opposite major surfaces are joined by vibration dampeningmaterial that substantially lines the aperture.
 11. The energytransmission control mount according to claim 10 wherein the vibrationdampening material extending over the one major surface of the carrieris configured to define a series of spaced ribs.
 12. The energytransmission control mount according to claim 11 wherein the ribs areparallel and are generally equally spaced.
 13. The energy transmissioncontrol mount according to claim 10 wherein the vibration dampeningmaterial is permanently bonded to the carrier.
 14. The energytransmission control mount according to claim 10 wherein the oppositeends of the carrier are configured to define channels to receive andretain the flanges of the furring channel.
 15. The energy transmissioncontrol mount according to claim 14 wherein the channels are lined withvibration dampening material.
 16. The energy transmission control mountaccording to claim 10 wherein said carrier is formed of metal.
 17. Theenergy transmission control mount according to claim 10 wherein saidvibration dampening material is formed of recycled rubber.
 18. Theenergy transmission control mount according to claim 10 furthercomprising the fastener.